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D. P. DOBBINS.

LIFE BOAT.

No. 352,525. I Patented Nov. 16, 1886.

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PATENT DAVID I. DOBBINS, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

LIFE-BOAT. I

SPE(LIEICA'I'ION forming part of Letters Patent No. 352,525, dated November 16, 1886.

Application filed July 6,1886. Serial No. 207,203.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, DAVID P. DOBBINS, a citizen of the United States, residing in Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in LifeBoats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in the filling of the air-spaces under or below the deck of a life-boat whereby the.

buoyancy and self-righting properties of the boat are improved, all of which will be fully and clearly hereinafter described, shown, and claimed by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section in line X X, Fig. 2; and Fig. 2 represents a vertical cross-section on line Z vZ, Fig. 1.

In my experience'l have found that a solid filling of cork, filling all the space between the deck andbottom of the boat, produces too heavy a boat for some purposes.

The object of my invention is to obviate these objections by using a layer or body of cork a sufficient height above the bottom of the hold of the boat to insure the required weight and ballast, and then filling the intermediate space between it and the under side of the deck with a much lighter water-proof material.

In said drawings, 1 represents the keel and keelson of the boat. is the water-tight compartment or bulk-head at the bow, and 3 represents the watertight bulk-head at the stern. The rudder 4 is made and put on in the usual way. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are the seats or thwarts, and 10 represents the strong back, and 11 the deck of the boat. These parts of the boat and their construction are well known, and are fully described and shown in patents granted to me No. 316,881, dated April 28, 1885, and No. 316,882, April 28, 1885. Afurther description here is therefore not required.

The layer of cork 12 is placed in the lower part of the hold of the boat in forin of slabs or sheets 13, set up edgewise side by side, (see Fig. 2,) which are firmly secured together and in place within the boat by nails or other equivalent means. This cork is also rendered impervious to water by means of a covering of some water-proof material-such (No model.)

as paraffine, havinga small quantity of beeswax, rosin, or similar material mixed with it, so as to render it soft enough to yield or give without breaking to any straining of the boat, which may occur from rough usage in a storm or in handling. This portion of the boat is therefore rendered entirely impervious to water, and is put into the boat in sufficient quantities to give the required amount of buoyant ballast to the lower portion of the boat. Above this layer of cork I place a thin intermediate deck, 14, and between this and the deck proper, 11, is secured another layer of lighter material than cork. For this purpose I have found that several kinds of rushes or reeds answer the purpose-viz., scirpus, a

reed or rush of the bulrush or clubrush variety, and carex or sedge, of the natural orders Juncuecc andCZI peracew and knownas Soirpus calid'as, of which the species are very numerous.

The outside of some of the rushes are waterproof, but they would be useless, unless the ends were made water -proof by the use of water-proof material similar to that above de scribed for treating the cork. It would not do to compress or tie the ends of the rushes with cord or wire, as the water will soak through. I therefore dip the ends in prepared paraffine, and preferably set them up vertically, as shown at 15, fitting them closely to gether, so as to. practically exclude all air or water space between the layers of cork and the deck 11. This arrangement and position of the rushes I regard as the best for the purpose; but they may be placed in the boat in any other position,if required; and,if desired, for some purposes the cork may be dispensed with and the hold of the boat be entirely filled from the deck 11 downward with rushes prepared as above or other water-proof light material.

I claim as my invention 1. A light water-proof filling for the space below the deck of a lifeboat, consisting of reeds or rushes having their ends rendered water-proof by paraffine or other similar material and secured together and to the boat, substantially as and for the purposes described. 2. A lifeboat provided with a cork filling below the deck, a supplementary deck above the cork filling, and a filling of the space between the supplementary deck and deck 11 of rushes or other similar light material, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. In a life-boat, the combination of a corkfilling secured in place in the lower part of the hold, consisting of cork in sheets or slabs set up edgewise and secured together by nails or the equivalent thereof, and a filling of 1i ghter material extending above the cork up to the under side of the deck, thereby filling the whole space under the deck, as and for the purposes specified.

4. In a life-boat, the combination of a cork filling in the lower part of the hold, consisting of cork sheets or slabs secured together and rendered water-proof, and a filling of rushes set np vertically and having their ends rendered water-proof and extending upward to and filling all the space between the deck and the cork filling, substantially as and for the purposes described.

D. P. DOBBINS.

\Vitnesses:

JENNIE M. CALDWELL, JAMES SANGSTER. 

